21st February 2025
It’s not often we meet the real thing, but here he was – tall, lean and quietly authoritative, the kind of person you’d want taking charge of any crime scene. At least, that was my impression, as we settled to listen to a writer whose detective thrillers may not yet be well known, but whose name could appear on a Netflix series before another decade is out. You heard it here first.
James Ellson is based in Hayfield, but originates from down south and read geography at Cambridge. He joined the Metropolitan Police where for a while he was a 999 responder– “plenty of adrenaline, but frustrating” – as you never know what happened next nor can take part in bringing criminals to justice. So he became a detective, and served as a Detective Constable in Paddington and Peckham, not the most peaceful of locations. A keen hiker and mountain climber (he has soloed the Matterhorn), he and his wife were drawn north for access to the mountain ranges of Snowdonia, Pennines and the Lake District, so he transferred to Greater Manchester Police. Here he became the DI in charge of Moss Side, as tough as it gets. With staffing shortages at a time when GMP was functioning poorly, at nights he was often the sole senior officer in charge of the entire GMP area, the one who turns up at the most serious scenes of mayhem.
In 2009 he left, in mid-career, leaving behind “the only job I’d ever wanted.” At some point it simply became too much. So for a while he concentrated on other, calmer parts of his life – bee-keeping, a smallholding, ancient apple trees – while undergoing therapy. One piece of advice was to write, and with his returning vigour he managed to produce a 70,000 word memoir. Full of hope he sent it off to five agents whose names he found in the writers’ bible, the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. Two responded right away (and that’s a miracle in itself) – at which point “I learned the difference between an agent and a publisher.”
One agent wisely told him that he should instead try writing a crime thriller; that’s what will sell. But what about? “Write what you know” is always the mantra (I found myself hearing all the phrases put to me thirty years ago when I started my writing career). So James started the novel The Trail, set in Nepal where his DCI Rick Castle is sent to find a missing person, a young man whose family are friends of his boss. The cover is above. It took a year to produce over 80,000 words to his own satisfaction, but despite the approval of his mother, the helpful agent didn’t like it! At this point he began to ask himself the question, So how DO you get a book published……?
There are three main ways. The big publishers such as Hachette (Little Brown, my publisher and dozens of other imprints) typically take 85% of the book cover price, have deals with Amazon and airports that can feel like daylight robbery, but have enormous reach. Contracts will require authors to help publicise their novels, which can be punishing for a shy writer. And (James didn’t say this, but I will) they are looking for the photogenic and the young, the next big thing.
Second are the many smaller enterprises such as Saraband who sell to databases of previous customers and can be very good at what they do. They can have surprise hits and award winners, but that attracts the headlines as it’s rather rare. In 2022 all the big UK literary prizes went to indies, as the Guardian pointed out with glee:
And thirdly there is self-publishing, which is the route for many, and can lead to unexpected success; EL James’ Fifty Shades of Grey was one spectacular example. At this juncture he discovered ALLi – the Alliance for Independent Authors – which gives practical advice on self-publishing.
And here we are on a seven-point path. The author will have to master Editing, Designing, Printing, Distribution, Marketing, Promotion and the Legal stuff. It can be much easier just to upload the book to Amazon, click Publish and hope it sells more than four copies. But the outcome of that is very poor.
Around this time James took what might prove to be his best decision, to learn how to write properly, with an MA in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University. That took three years part-time, but involved many workshop sessions of creative criticism with other aspiring writers. The tutor, Joe Stretch, is himself a published writer but prefers teaching and mentoring; with his advice, James started again and rewrote The Trail. That’s when he discovered the truth of Hemingway’s remark: “There’s nothing in writing. All you do is sit down at the desk, and bleed.”
He took his work to Unbound (United Authors Publishing Ltd), a privately-owned international crowdfunded publishing company, based in London, which helps writers get published. It’s a form of hybrid publishing where the writer raises funds up front so there is no risk to the company if no copies actually sell. For Unbound to commit, James had to crowdfund 450 copies in 90 days – and so he discovered latent marketing skills, persuading everyone he knew including family, friends, neighbours, parents and staff at his children’s school, the postman and even two Tesco drivers to commit to taking copies. And he succeeded at this first hurdle.
Then he was given an editor who produced a 36-page list of suggestions, which took two months to work through. The new draft produced another 16-page list of issues, and that was followed by a copy editor who points out inconsistencies, another 500 + annotations. Once this was done a cover design had to be chosen and typesetting followed, then finally proof-reading. I recalled one nightmare as my first long novel went to print when we discovered that there was a real IRA man with the name I’d given one of my villains. We had to find a different surname which would fill exactly the same space! Helpfully, Unbound shared the novel with some other well-known authors, who made positive remarks which could then go on the cover – that all helps sell a newcomer’s work.
But then, Unbound stops. The contract does not include marketing and promotion. The author, abashed, realises he has to do it himself; and indeed James now reckons at least half his time is spent in promotion. He kept writing, producing three books in all in the DCI Rick Castle Nepal series, sending them all to Unbound. But then he began to feel he was being “messed around” as they seemed less interested in responding to his queries.
And that was when he decided to take control, and to become a publisher in his own right. He joined the Society of Authors, who provide excellent free advice especially on the legal side. He set up Cambium Press – the name comes from the living layer beneath the bark of a tree, which draws up nutrients from the soil to branches and leaves above. He acquired the rights to his own books from Unbound, bought 10 ISBN numbers, and republished them. He looked at print on demand, but the quality was not to his satisfaction; instead, he employed all the same freelance team he’d been working with – editor, copy editor, designer etc – on contracts to Cambion, and paid them upfront.
This man was on a real learning curve, as is anyone who starts their own business from scratch. He joined Kindle Publishing Direct. His preferred printer (Clays Ltd in Suffolk) had their own deals including with Amazon which proved very useful. A local IT contractor helped set up a decent website with a pay button.
In 2023 Cold Summer, one of the Nepal books was finally ready and a lorry unloaded 1,000 copies in his drive. But by now he was getting the hang of this publishing business. He promotes by speaking several times a month to local groups, goes to fairs and book events and appears in news programmes and local newspapers. Last year in all he sold 1,800 books and his first, The Trail, has so far sold over 5,000 copies, a success in any terms. The new novel, Base Line (it involves a young tennis team) came out in December 2024 and is set in Manchester and Stockport. I’ve read it, couldn’t put it down, it’s a cracker. He’s a fine writer who knows his stuff. And if he wants to quote me on the cover of this or his next novel (it’s called Rule of Threes and is being written now), that’s fine by me.
A whole series is planned and will run to 10 books in all. James closed by recognising that writing is a very selfish activity, but he loves it: “Being creative is very exciting – it’s as exciting as being in the police.” Potentially, he could publish other writers as well, but for the moment, he has five more novels in the DCI Rick Castle series to churn out, and that will be some years’ work.
James has travelled a long way – so far, and he deserves this success, and to be far better known. Creatives are the heart of modern culture; the new worlds of streaming are hungry for new and effective material. I can’t help feeling we will all hear his name in the future, and I certainly hope so.
Meanwhile, enjoy.. you’ll find him, his books and his life at https://jamesellson.com/.